Planning a children’s race can be a challenge even for an experienced running event organizer, as it requires unique organization and promotion. In this article, we will talk about ways to make your event well-attended and successful.
Plan Your Race Route
How to organize a fun run for kids starts with selecting a simple and safe route. Busy streets and lots of confusing turns increase the risk that the child may get lost or injured, and therefore caring parents are unlikely to approve of their participation.
A school stadium, a large backyard, a local park, or an outdoor entertainment area might be a good idea. Such areas are well observed, which means that parents can watch their children and even take a few photos during the race for the family archive.
The main thing is that the kids running race should be clearly fenced. That way, children will understand the “boundaries of fun,” and parents will know they are in a controlled, specially prepared area.
Another good idea is an out-and-back route where the race starts and ends in the same place.
What are the benefits? Children will run from point A to point B and back, which minimizes the risk of going astray. In addition, you, as the race director, will need fewer volunteers on the route, as the mileage remains the same, but the course is half as long.
Choose the Right Distance
This is a “must-have” item in any race planning checklist, but even more so in kids running races. You must keep in mind the peculiarities of the children’s physical development.
Today, sport medicine representatives say that the increased competition intensity in youth sports significantly increases the risk of injuries such as stress fractures, apophysitis, and tendinitis among children and adolescents. Therefore, they have developed recommended maximum running distances depending on age:
- Under 9: 1.5 miles
- 9-11: 3.2 miles
- 12-14: 6.4 miles
- 15-16: 13.1 miles
- 17+: 19.2 miles
Road Runners Club of America adds to this gradation the recommended norms for the youngest participants:
- 5 years or less: 400 meters maximum
- 5-8: half to 1 mile with the option of walking and/or running.
Both sources agree that long runs of 10K or more are best delayed until puberty.
Undoubtedly, these recommendations are general since mileage also depends on each child’s physical fitness and emotional tolerance. However, when organizing kid-friendly endurance events, you should focus on a specific age group and choose the distance participants can overcome without harming their health.
Recruit Kids-Aware Volunteers
The duties of a race volunteer go beyond the usual when it comes to a fun run for kids.
- They must carefully monitor small participants, so they don’t run off course.
- They should provide a non-traumatic experience. Even if you choose a safe area, there may still be curbs or potholes that children can trip over. Therefore, the volunteer must be instructed on how to prevent injury.
- Finally, they must instruct the children before (and sometimes during) the race and help and encourage them throughout the route. Is the child tired? Thirsty? Upset that the “same boy” is overtaking? Your race volunteer should be able to handle these issues.
No less important, the child must know WHOM they can turn to in this case. If parents start to go out on the route, this will lead to unnecessary crowds, distract children, and may simply disrupt the event. Therefore, an important step in holding great running events with kids is to organize a pre-race meeting where parents and children will get to know those who will accompany them on the route.
Take Care of Other Racing Activities
The best way to hold the pre-race meeting is to organize pre-running games for kids. This has five main advantages:
- It allows kids to make friends with the volunteers. As we said, it is important for a child to know who to contact during the race. With the help of the pre-race game, the volunteer will be able to win over the children, and the children are more likely to remember who to turn to for help.
- It is also comforting for the parents. A big worry of many parents is the potential assault or kidnapping of their child. Simply put, parents will see who they are entrusting their children to during the race.
- Fundamentals of Youth Running says, “first and foremost, running should be fun.” Indeed, the introduction of games and creativity helps to keep children interested in running and other sports. The opportunity to spend time with parents and peers attracts children more than competitive spirit and medals.
- Fun running drills for kids is a great way to warm up. Warming up, in turn, reduces the risk of injury and positively affects the child’s performance.
- After all, if the kids have fun, the parents will be happy with the event. This means they are more likely to participate in your next family-friendly running event.
Have a Race Leader
Besides knowing how to make running fun, you should know to make the race safe. In addition to volunteers throughout the course, you should have someone who runs ahead of all the children.
In the US, a child is lost every 90 seconds. One of the main reasons is that some children do not yet have a developed sense of direction. Therefore, they can get lost even on simple routes. In addition, children may be afraid to go somewhere unaccompanied by adults to avoid getting lost. In this case, even pointers with arrows placed along the entire route may not be as useful as having a lead runner.
Thus, assign the role of “leader of the pack” to one of the volunteers or an adult runner to ensure that none of the children get lost on the way to the finish line.
Prepare Lost Child Protocol
Even with a bunch of volunteers and a race leader, life happens, and a child can still get lost. So before inviting families to your event, make sure you have a well-thought-out lost child and/or lost parent protocol.
The action plan for a lost child may include items such as:
- Which employee or volunteer is responsible for this issue?
- What should the responsible person do first?
- What questions to ask a lost child or a parent who has lost a child?
- How long does it take to report to the police after losing a child?
- What to do if a child is found with a different adult than the one who reported the loss?
- How to transfer the found child to the parents?
In fact, there is no single correct template for such a protocol, so consider these examples. But remember that it is in your best interest to make this document as detailed and clear as possible. This will allow the assigned person to move quickly to the necessary actions and expedite the search.
In addition, if the parents see that you are prepared and know what to do, it will have a positive effect on your reputation as a race organizer.
Make First Aid Available
Approximately 3.5 million children and adolescents are injured each year while playing sports or participating in sporting events. You can’t prevent all injuries, but you are responsible for providing accessible first aid in case of an injury at your event.
Any injury associated with swelling, deformity, or difficulty in movement should be evaluated by a physician immediately. Therefore, it is recommended to set up medical tents before the start (yes, children can be injured even during the running games), on the route, and near the finish line.
Also, educate staff and volunteers on where to find the nearest health worker and how to act if a child is injured.
Keep Spectators at a Distance
Parents and relatives may want to support their child on race day, and that’s okay. But sometimes, people from the support group can be too addicted. For example, they ask the child to stop in the middle of the route for a photo, or, even worse, they go to the track for this. All this can be uncomfortable for other participants and disrupt the flow of the event.
So when you’re planning a kids run, make sure to clearly define meeting areas where parents can interact with the kids. In addition to the start and finish, these can also be medical stations along the route. Ask volunteers to clearly explain to parents where the meeting points are, the rules of conduct at the race, and the possible consequences of some of their actions.
Appeal to Kids
Research shows that 90% of parents admit that children influence their buying decisions. Events and leisure are among the top-influenced product categories. This suggests that if your event advertising interests the child, the parent will willingly take them there.
If you are concerned about how to host a race for elementary school, tell the children directly about your event. From about the age of 7, kids can already understand and remember ad messages. And today, the budgets allocated for advertisements for children are steadily growing as Generation Alpha (approximately 6-16 years old) constantly uses digital media and social media.
Thus, targeting ads to kids who like running and posting on run-related platforms like Runzy can work very well. Besides digital media, you can still use traditional forms of promotion such as the school newsletter, posters in educational institutions, and outdoor advertising near parks, playgrounds, and sports training centers.
The advertising message itself is no less important than its distribution channels. A survey by George Washington University revealed what engages children in sports. The most important motivators were fun, a chance to achieve a personal best, playing in a team, communication with peers, and the opportunity to be active. Winning and medals were much further down the list.
When creating an advertising message, you should appeal to what really attracts and interests children, namely, spending a fun and active day with friends.
Appeal to Parents
If fun run ideas for kids under 6 come to mind, your event announcement should be directed to parents. After all, they ultimately make the decision. Therefore, it is good to refer to what is important for parents as well.
There are several criteria for choosing a children’s or family event among parents:
- A variety that will suit more than one child. If there are several children in the family and not all of them run the race, the rest should not be bored. Games, animation programs, a playground, and so on can work here.
- Schedule-friendly event. For example, you can offer multiple race starts per day or run events over two days.
- Location and parking. Everything is clear here – the family wants to spend time in comfort. Therefore, when choosing a venue, make sure that it will be convenient for your audience to get there.
- Price. Since parents pay not only for the child racing but also for themselves and other children and possibly family members at your event, the price really matters. But this does not mean that you should lose profit. Instead, you can offer a discount for early registration to your event or first-time participants.
- Trustworthy event organizer. Eventbrite says: “today’s parents rely on the Internet to vet experiences, venues, and organizations before trusting them with their kids.”
Your task is to convey to parents that all their needs will be met. Runzy, as a race search platform, is perfect for this.
- Search by location is available here, which means your kids running race will be seen by local families,
- When posting your race on our website, you can immediately add a registration link and reward early birds with discounts,
- Your race profile contains all the necessary information about the schedule and entertainment program of the event. Parents will be able to review all the details to make a decision,
- Do you want to prove you’re trustworthy? No problem! Users can leave reviews on Runzy; the race profile contains photos from previous events and leads to your website with more information,
- As a bonus, Runzy has special categories dedicated to kids or family racing. Thus, the announcement of your event will be seen by exactly those people who are interested in this type of event.
A fun event for the little ones requires serious and meticulous preparation. But by taking into account all our recommendations, you can offer children and parents a wonderful experience they will want to return to again and again.
